Five band members smiling onstage against red curtain background

What’s happening

March 15, 2012

Two cars as fit as a fiddle

Petrina Gentile, The Globe and Mail Kyle MacNeil Profession: Musician (fiddle, guitar, violin, mandolin) Age: 49 Hometown: Cape Breton, N.S. Notable achievements He and his siblings have released 14 CDs beginning with their first album, The Barra MacNeils in 1986 Studied classical music at Mount Allison University The group takes its name from the Scottish […]

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March 10, 2012

The Barra MacNeils and the VSO: a tour of Celtic music

Krista Morrow, The Martlet Celtic music has many iterations: lively jigs and reels for dancing in the neighbour’s kitchen; rhythmic shanties for hauling in the East Coast cod; haunting pipe solos that echo across the rolling downs and bring back a long lost love. The Barra MacNeils and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra (VSO) teamed up […]

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March 1, 2012

Symphonic Celtic: Family band gets to the root of Cape Breton style

By Amy Smart, Times Colonist Some would say Celtic music’s cultural currency peaked in the 1990s, when Cape Breton’s Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster and the Rankin Family fiddled and toe-tapped their way onto Top 40 charts. Fellow Cape Bretoner Stewart MacNeil of the family band the Barra MacNeils begs to differ. “The music has a […]

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Bi-coastal Celtic celebration

Mary Ellen Green, Monday Magazine Get ready for a bi-coastal celebration with Celtic superstars the Barra MacNeils and the Victoria Symphony March 1 – 3 at the Royal Theatre. Twenty-five years after the Barra MacNeils went into the studio to record their self-titled debut album, the six siblings and multi-instrumentalists from Sydney Mines, Cape Breton […]

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December 10, 2011

The Barras Go to PEI

The Barra MacNeils visit The Culinary Institute of Canada at Holland College in Charlottetown, PEI the day of their show at the Confederation Centre.

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December 1, 2011

Update: Live in Concert with Symphony Nova Scotia CD

To all those who kindly pre-ordered advance copies of the Barra MacNeils Live in Concert with Symphony Nova Scotia CD, Thank you for your patience! We will have fresh advance copies in the next few days and will be signing, numbering and sending promptly! Just in time for Christmas! Thank you! The Barra MacNeils

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November 16, 2011

The Barra MacNeils bring their popular seasonal show to Charlottetown

One of the most beloved shows on the seasonal circuit, comes to the Confederation Centre on Tuesday December 6. The Barra MacNeils – widely regarded as one of the greatest live acts in the Celtic world – will perform one night in the Homburg Theatre at 7:30 pm. Tickets go on sale Thursday November 17. […]

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Family bands work together on music

Laura-Jean Grant, Cape Breton Post SYDNEY — Between talk of the perfect cup of tea and touring schedules, The Barra MacNeils and Ireland’s The Black Family laid down a track of a traditional Irish tune, Monday. A major project of this year’s Celtic Colours International Festival is connecting The Barra MacNeils with some of the […]

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